From the time of the first skirmish (AN Falling Waters) Jackson’s little army was active, marching up and down this valley south of Martinsburg several days. We came up to a place call Darkeville, no village, but the home of a man name Darke I believe. There was a good spring near and a small stream which passed eastward across meadowland which stretched out for a mile in that direction. On either side the fields were covered with fine grass and we were encamped in this place several days and nights. I well remember the beautiful nights spent there. Our Battery was nearest the Pike and by this time other troops had been brought up from some were, Harpers Ferry I believe, and other Batteries were near us but not in sight, being on the west side of the Pike in a more rolling and wooded part of the country. Other Infantry, be sides Jackson’s four Regiments had also bivouacked near his. I was a private and though Chief of Caisson , known as No 8, was not a non-commissioned officer then and had guard duty to perform. I had my tour from 12 to 2 at night. The sky was as clear and beautiful as you ever saw it. A long comet stretched many degrees across, almost directly overhead, the camp fires did not at that hour burn brightly but were kept up along the line of troops, who occupied the meadows and open fields in sight of us for more than a mile. The only sounds were made by the occasional sentinels, or the horses, or the officers, who went out to relieve the guards. There was nothing disagreeable in the aspect of the war. The duties of a sentinel in our Artillery camp was very light and simple and free from danger. We had merely to walk to walk in front or rear of our guns; or near our horses, to prevent any attempt to interfere with either and very little ground to apprehend any such attempt on the part of the enemy as the outside of the large camp was well guarded by Infantry men and the Cavalry were picketed still further out in the direction of the enemy. A sentinel with a poetic fancy could have enjoyed such a life as much as the Eastern Shepherds are supposed to have enjoyed a life under the stars while employed in watching their sheep by night.
About this time we had our first sight of Gen Joseph E. Johnston, who came down to take command of the Army. He impressed every one as a “game looking” man. He was not large but was intellectual looking, well mounted and was a superb horseman. He sat his steed like a part of the animal and there was trust about him which impressed us all with the idea that he was at home n the management of an army as well as of a horse.
One day whilst at this place we were all, infantry and artillery ordered to prepare for battle and each man was provided with a days rations. As some of the companies were uniformed in dark cloth coats, not unlike some of the uniforms of the Federal Regiments, we were all required to have white cotton strips around one arm as a sort of badge by which in the confusion of a battle we could distinguish friend from foe. Early in the morning we were called up and these strips of white cotton cloth torn in four inches wide were issued by the quartermaster Sergt and tied on our arms. We were then taken a short distance from our camp and put in line of battle near the summit of a slight range of hills , which at that point extended eastward from the Turnpike road near the place Darkesville. We were green soldiers then and were deeply impressed with the belief that Patterson was very near and approaching. We spent a day in position here. No being allowed to roam along the whole line of battle I cannot say how far it extended from personal observation, but believe it was several miles long. That part of the Valley had many inhabitants who desired to be neutrals in the war and many whose sympathies were with the Federals. No doubt this great army was duly reported to Patterson with exaggerations perhaps, at any rate we were left undisturbed by him. We all became satisfied afterwards that the grand display of preparation for a desperate general engagement was a deliberate ruse planned by Gen Johnston to try his own men and get them used to “wars alarms” as well as deter Patterson from an immediate advance. The next day or very soon thereafter we began our march back toward Winchester, which we reached in a few days after most ?? experience in the Stone road in the very hottest of July weather. There was great scarcity of water along the road which added to the discomfort. We encamped a few days before we got to Winchester and then on the extreme north east of that town we again encamped in an orchard which was enclosed with a plank fence. There were many miles of this sort of fence in sight and many rock fences. After a comfortable rest one morning we were called up unusually early an intimation of approaching danger in Dr (Captain) Pendletons morning prayer and soon had orders to have three days rations prepared. Everyone was alive and stirring. Soon a regiment of Infantry came and stacked arms and immediately began to level the plank fences near us, cutting down the posts and throwing the fences flat. This looked liked business and we were experiencing again a touch of “Wars Alarms” for infantry regiments were passing to and fro and we were in readiness all to be ordered into position.
In the afternoon however of one long July day, the 18th of July, I believe it was (1861) we were ordered into line of march and the route taken was back toward Winchester. We entered the town and came out the S. West corner of it and (as soon discovered from the Winchester boys who were in the Battery) we the road leading towards Manassas or Ashby Gap. After we had gone that route for a couple of miles, we were halted to hear read by General Jackson’s adjutant a spirited general order from General J.E. Johnston to the extent our troops under Beauregard were probably engaged in a desperate conflict and that we were expected to rush to his aid and fight for our country and all that was dear to us. The order was received with a shout and we pressed on to keep our place in the advancing army. We reached the Shenandoah River that evening about dark and crossed it, some of the men wading and others riding behind mounted friends. We crossed the mountain in the night and arrived at 2 AM at a small place called Paris. I believe in Fauquier County, near the top of the mountain on the eastern side. I was riding behind some mounted man of the company, probably Dr. John Leyburn who as surgeon had a horse along and being ahead of the guns, we got permission to occupy a bed at a house at this place and wait for the arrival of the rest of the Battery. We tried to sleep in a feather bed in a closed room and tried in vain. We rested but rested poorly. We imagined the inability to sleep was due to the fact that we had grown accustomed to sleeping on the ground and with no covering above us but the sky. That was only partially true perhaps for even now, sleeping on a feather bed in July is not easily accomplished by men who are in the habit of luxuriating on hair or shucks. When daylight came we got some breakfast and looked for our guns which were near to us and soon they were brought together, the roll was called and we marched on a few miles crossing the Manassas Gap RR at a depot called Piedmont, and went into camp at a well to do looking farm house on the side of the road leading to White Plains and Manassas Junction. This was said to be the residence of a maiden lady whose name I have forgotten. She and many other ladies present greeted us gleefully and extended the hospitality of the mansion to us, not to me precisely, for I believe I did not get any benefit from their hospitable intentions from them then to get a canteen full of milk, which some more enterprising forager then myself procured for me. We rested in the shade of the magnificent tree on beautiful grass till about dusk when the men (some of whom had strolled about to neighboring farm houses) were got together and we set out on a night march. I did not know the country and do not know it know, but the “Plains” was the name of the place we stopped and in that or some other village the company rested in the street for a couple of hours just before daybreak and men slept on porches, boxes pavement etc., and it was hard to get them some of them from their resting places, uncomfortable as they were, when the signal was given to resume the march. We proceeded however till about sunrise when we stopped to feed the horses, and got some rest again. We continued the march till 3 or 4 o’clock Pm when we halted at Manassas Station on the Orange and Alex R. Road. Here was all the desolation with which we afterward became familiar, such as is marks a place where soldiers have been encamped and where they get supplies. We had been parched with heat, chocked with dust and were thirsty as well as hungry and found only one well of water and that was guarded by a sentinel whose orders prevented our getting any part of it. Our Captain had gone to get instructions as to future movements and here we lay in the sun and filth waiting for more than hour, perhaps two hours, to see what next was to happen to us. At last the orders came and we set out, riding in the carriages, ?? which was a relief, to find our camp which had been assigned to us as part of Gen Jackson’s Brigade.
After a rough ride, across fields, we got to Bull Run and the neighborhood of the infantry of the Brigade who had already gone into camp and rested, as they had gone from Piedmont on the cars. As soon as the guns halted I lay on the ground and slept as I never had slept before, sound as a rock. I was aroused up to get some supper and my mess mates and bed mates, were kind enough to let me share in the results of their labors without reproaching me from my neglect of duties. After a hearty meal, the nature of which I do not recall, I fell into my sleeping place under the trees, not far from the creek, which had two days before been the scene of the Battle of Bull Run, the 18th July fight, and again slept the most unconscious sleep that ever fell to the lot of man. I heard nothing and dreamed nothing till the sun was well up, when I was roused by the stir of the camp and soon heard the report of a 30 pounder which was said to be near Centerville and which was fired at random in our direction. Captain Pendleton had also slept hard or had been so considerate as to not rouse us up at his usual hour for morning prayers. The camp was soon fully roused, for there was no toilet making to take up time and after one of the Captain’s alarming prayers, we got breakfast, and under orders, filled our haversacks with a days rations. In the course of an hour we had orders to hitch up and form into column of march and wait for orders. We were in a hollow or ravine running down to the creek and not far from the latter, perhaps fifty feet. We were formed with head of column up the ravine, southward and whilst there saw groups of men and officers, and some of our own men joined them, on an open hill to the front and left of our own column. They seemed to be watching with interest some movements of the enemy north of the Creek (Bulls Run) in the direction of Centerville. Presently a report from a big gun which had first roused us was heard and there was a commotion on the hill as a shot passed near the hill top. Another soon followed and that passed over the creek and struck the ground not many yards to the left and front of our first gun. Then Captain Pendleton marched us up the ravine and to the right under cover of and around the piece of woods in which we had encamped and proceeding and proceed southward finally halted us after going a mile or more near a well traveled road which appeared to run east and west, parallel with Bull Run.
The dust on the road was deep and the sun was fearfully hot. We went to the edge of the road in a small field, not over a hundred yards from the road and here we waited. The country here abouts is rolling but has no very elevated points from which we could make out what was going on outside the woods which bounded our vision westward. We could see great clouds of dust and could distinguish the fact that a fight was in progress west of us several miles in which artillery and musketry were freely used. We then began to realize that we would be probably engaged in a bloody battle, but it is impossible for me to describe my sensations. I certainly did not long for a part in the fray but was resigned to obey orders and hope for a bloodless encounter. How long we had been standing near the Bull Run and marching to the our present resting place and how long we had rested here I do not now recall, but at last there was the clatter of horse feet and the clashing of armor which announced the passage along this road from the east of a group of officers and mounted men. They halted opposite to us and voice called out inquiring what artillery this was. Captain Pendleton approached and answered the inquiry and was ordered in somewhat peremptory tone, I thought to advance along the road which would be pointed out by a courier. The cavalcade of officers who consisted as we learned afterwards of Gen J.E. Johnston and other Generals and their staff officers and couriers and dashed off in the direction of the firing and we all mounted limber chests and caissons and advanced at our best speed in the same direction. We went a mile or more before we saw any unmistakable signs of battle. Then we began to see men straggling back who said the battle was going on hotly and many intimidated that all was lost. Presently we met wounded men who called for us to hurry on, some badly wounded were being helped back by comrades and it struck us that the wound and their comrades were less despondent than the sound men whom we met. Some of the suffers called out words of encouragement. Our rapid motion and the frequent running conversations with these men whom we met kept us from any grave reflections on the dangers into which we were venturing. At last we halted in the road not far from the “Lewis” House to wait from some definite orders as to where we should go. While here we saw the Staunton Artillery, Captain Jno D Imboden, slowly drawing back, badly crippled as we all then thought. Having some acquaintances in the company, Will Nelson and T. Waddell and others, we got some information as to what had been done. From their account of it we learned that this battery had been engaged and had lost some horses and some men wounded, perhaps had left a piece of artillery on the field, but of that I am uncertain. At any rate the men were not demoralized and on the whole we were encouraged to hope at least that we might fight and yet live to fight another day without having to run away. They were simply falling back under orders and did not know what would be their next orders, whether to form in another part of the line or not. Before many minutes delay were piloted to the left down a wagon road through a pine and stunted oak thicket and up again from a small branch to the hill on the crest of which we finally unlimbered and commenced the work of the day. As we went through the woods rising towards the final fight ground, the shell and Minnie balls from the enemy made a terrible racket over our heads and near us, and we passed one of the Washington College boys who belonged to the 4th VA infantry in our brigade, taking care of a wounded comrade who afterwards passed??, a youth well known to many of our company. He and many others had been wounded while lying on the ground near the top of the hill awaiting orders.
We reached the top of the hill and turned to our right in an old field and unlimbered our guns and commenced firing to the left of the direction in which we entered the field. Just in the rear of the Battery we found the infantry lying on the ground. The Colonels and field officers at the head of each and Jackson riding backwards and forwards in front of them. When we approached he gave orders where each gun should take position, just in front of his infantry, except one gun which was sent a little to the right of his line. Im not much of draftsman but on the opposite page I give a rough outline of our position, and of the Henry House (AN not present on microfilm). There was a stunted growth in front of us down the hill and part of the way up the opposite hill, on which was located the Henry House and near this house were trees, an orchard I believe. The enemy artillery was near it and they were firing rapidly shells, which sounded horribly as they passed over our heads. In front of us somewhere, perhaps in the shelter of the brush were the Federal Infantry, who Minnie balls, kept a racket about our ears that was worse than mosquitoes. The only human way of accounting for our not having been knocked to pieces before we got into position and directly afterwards is that the enemy’s artillery was fired too high. The Minnie balls missed us because we occupied a very little of the space through which they passed and because kind providence sent them into unoccupied spaces.
I do not recall the fact that I was frightened badly, but do recall the fact that I wished it was all over and I was well out of it. I was fortunately employed, as the orders were to use ammunition in the caissons first and leave the limber chests untouched. Our guns were four in number and the gun I was with was the howitzer. Next on the left was the 6 pounder brass gun at which Liv Massie was No. 1. One other gun was so far to the left of us that a gun of another battery came in between it and our fourth gun was some distance to our right. At the usual regulation distance in rear of each gun was its limber chest and about 14 feet in the rear of that were the heads of the horses of the caissons. All the horsed heads were turned to the front. Some anxiety had been expressed lest we would have difficulty in holding the horses, which we assumed would be scared and give us trouble. Men were assigned to duty to aid the drivers if necessary. To our surprise the horses seemed to be perfectly indifferent to the danger and the only trouble was to keep them from getting tangled in harness in their effort to eat the scanty grass at their feet.
I was chief of caisson and had to give out ammunition to the men who were detailed to carry it to the gun. Our caisson chests had been made in Winchester and were mounted on the running gear of common country wagon, so that I could not stand on the ground and get out their contents. I had to be helped up and sat on the edge and in this position I reached out the ammunition and handed it to the men who carried it. Whilst occupying this perch I confess that I had too much time to consider the situation and remember distinctly wondering if it would be unsoldier like in me to dodge these Minnie balls which were flitting by my ears or to bow when those horrid shells passed over me. I saw Capt. Pendleton who had just been commissioned Colonel make a motion like dodging and thought there could be no harm in it, but I saw Gen Jackson while riding along his beat was often not fifty steps in rear of me, sitting on horse which had been shot in the thigh, with his chin cocked up as if he was expecting a rain and was not adverse to having a drop of it on his face. He had his hand raised wrapped in a handkerchief and was evidently wounded, but he refused to dodge. I do not know whether I tried to imitate him or not, but I shall say that I bowed involuntarily more then once. I learned by the way that, afterwards that dodging was not inconsistent with the highest courage and was quite allowable provided a fellow did not lose his wits and conclude to get out of danger before his orders came to do so.
One Minnie ball was kept from me by the lid of the chest out of which I was getting ammunition and whilst I was in the act of handing a shell to Smith (Rev J.P. Smith afterwards on Jackson’s Staff) over the wheel of the caisson, a ball struck the wheel and glanced and hit him on the forearm. He felt it severely of course and I saw it drop to the ground at his feet and pointed it out to him. He put it in his pocket and hurried to the gun with the shell. He found that afterwards that the ball which had been flattened on the wheel had made a broad blue bruise on his arm and had stiffened considerably.
During the progress of the fight I had to dismount and assist one of the drivers, Bob Lewis, to detach one of the horses which had been struck by a Minnie on the upper part of the hoof. When we got him out we found he could still walk and we put him back again. I remember also that I regretted that I was not alongside Liv Massie whom I could see working vigorously at his gun. He seemed to be very busy and as cool as if he was playing baseball, which is not a cool play however. His excitement seemed to be gratifying to him. From where I was on duty I could not well see the position of the enemy, but when I got down to fix the horse, I took a peep and learned the position of the enemy’s artillery. The practice which we had in the Valley in estimating distance enabled our gunners to know very how far off was their target and as it was very nearly at point blank range for our guns, we rarely missed doing good execution every time. We afterwards found that Col Ricketts battery with which we were engaged was a splendidly equipped Battery in US service, the same which had won glory in Mexico, six 10 pounder parrot guns with six horses to each gun and each caisson and that our guns aided by a few guns of another battery had knocked it into a heap. The horses and men were piled together and not force enough left to take them off the field. The range was too short for these rifled guns and the gunners in all probability did not know it.
During the progress of the battle I saw a caisson which was on line with mine and about fifty steps to the left (east) explode. The explosion being caused by a one of the enemy’s shells which had been better aimed than the rest. I saw the chest fly up and there was a huge blaze and much commotion. Some of the men had their shirts burnt, they were in their shirt sleeves, and were themselves scorched a little but not seriously. There was some commotion with the horses but it was soon quieted and the dreadful work went on. This caisson belonged to a Richmond Battery which had been put into position immediately to the left of the gun that Massie was at and between that gun and our extreme left hand gun.
At last the order was given to “limber up” and to say that it was not a welcome sound to most of us would be scarcely true. I certainly was pleased to hear the order, but could not tell whether it meant that we would advance or fall back. Immediately however and whilst we were executing this order the infantry in our rear was called up from their recumbent posture and fell rapidly into line by regiments. I knew the field officers of the 4th Va Regt, which was nearest to me and heard them their orders and just as we were moving out toward our right, this regiment advanced over the ground we had occupied at a double quick and went out of sight with a yell down the hill in the direction of the Henry House. We went slowly out from the line which we had occupied and as soon as the guns were all brought together, we slowly made our way down the hill by a line parallel with that along which we had gone up and made our way out of the woods to the cleared ground nearest to and west of the Lewis House. Here we halted and the men and officers tumbled to the ground, waiting for orders and wondering what we had done and what next we would have to do. Whilst there we were making conjectures as to how long we had been engaged. Some said 15 minutes some said an hour. I and many others thought we had been engaged about 30 minutes. Lieut Wm McLaughlin (afterwards Capt and Col of Artillery) who had started us at these conjectures settled the question. He had looked at his watch when the first order was given to commence firing and found it to be 2 o’clock. When the order to was given to cease fire firing it was 4 ½ o’clock. We had been at work then two hours and half and whilst it was by no means pleasant work to any of us, time flew rapidly.
We lolled here for some time listening to the sounds of battle which seemed to go westward, leading us to hope that the enemy was giving way and that our troops were pursuing. Soon these hopes were sustained by rumor and from our position after a while we could at a distance and north westwardly from us see indications of a disorderly retreat along the road toward Centreville on the north side of Bulls Run not far from the Stone Bridge which was a prominent feature in the accounts of the battle given afterwards by both sides. A battery some hundreds of yards west of us, which had also been engaged and had been withdrawn as ours had been to await orders was posted and one of the guns ran forward to a point of the hill and opened on the mass which we saw moving northward from the Bridge. Soon a few shots were fired from a gun or guns on the north side of Bulls Run in reply to this gun from our neighboring Battery and a solid shot took off the head of one its Lieutenants, a Lieut. Macon of Richmond. That was the only damage done and the firing from the north side ceased and I suppose the battery from which they came ceased to exist as a battery. We were so near when this sad death occurred that no little gloom was cast over us. It was like a death by violence in cold blood. Macon was merely like we were, looking at the retreat and watching with interest the effect of the firing from the only gun of his battery that was then engaged.
Before sun down we were assured the infantry of our Brigade had dashed forward with other troops and had driven the enemy from the ground near the Henry House and had pursued them till they were exhausted, in the direction of the main road leading to Centreville. Some of our men got permission to go back to the battle field and they returned to us loaded with canteens, haversacks, well filled with “hard tack” and oil cloth and woolen blankets. Others went with a horse or two and came back supplied with many luxuries which we had never known. Among the plunder brought to us were large tarpaulins used to cover the guns and caissons of the celebrated Rickett Battery which we had knocked into uselessness.
We went into camp very near the Lewis House and had our supper for the most part from the haversacks of the enemy. We slept as usual in the open air, for we had no tents and had none up to that time and about 2 o’clock in the morning were waked by the rain which seemed to be coming very gently but steadily. I crawled under one of the captured tarpaulins which was lying near and slept till morning. When we were roused a more forlorn and miserable looking set of men were never seen. Some of us were thoroughly wet, all more or less muddy, the horses wet, the camp equipage wet and dirty and no fires were lighted and what was worse no fuel was prepared with which to kindle fires. The day before had been clear and hot and the fatigue and excitement had prevented any provision for a rainy day. We had not examined the water supply or the wood supply and here we were all drenched and without breakfast. The horses had first to be cared for and how this was done I had no personal knowledge, but it was done some how. Cooking had to be done and the men went to the neighboring fences, where any were left and got rails or to the woods which were not far off and got together fuel. Then came the difficulty about water. We found that the well at the Lewis house was protected by a sentinel in as much as that house had been converted during the night into a hospital. We tried to catch water from the roof of the house, but to our disgust found that part of it flowed from the roof of a long back porch and that on that roof the limbs which had been cut off from wounded soldiers in the upper rooms had been thrown. We were afraid to use the water from the streams which were then flowing freely at the foot of every hillock, because we did not know but that this water flowed from some field hospital or washed the spot where some poor fellow had shed his life blood. I don’t remember exactly how we finally got our breakfast or what we had for breakfast, certainly we had no ?? dishes. The great absorbing questions now were how has this command fared, what loses, did this friend escape and so on. This was the first battle and Regiments and companies were not so well organized as they afterwards became and there was much straggling. Men did not, event those who had done their duty, fully know where to find their headquarters. Many of them did not rejoin their commands for several days and tidings of them could not be got. This was less true for the artillery men for they had to stay with their guns and horses and these staid together and were a rallying point. None of men were missing and very few were hurt. The wounds of these were not very serious. Lieut. Brockenbrough was slightly wounded in the foot and got a furlough, Smith was wounded by a spent ball as I have described and I think Sergt Jordan was slightly wounded. As many of our men of our men were from Rockbridge Co. Va, they were anxious to know the result of the battle and the damage done to the Rockbridge infantry companies, two of which were in the 4th Va. I had several friends and acquaintances in that Reg and in the 5th Va, which were the Augusta County companies.
During that day we were called on to bury young Davidson, a private in a Rockbridge Infantry company and brother of the Greenlie Davidson whom we all knew well. He had been wounded in the stomach and was carried into an out house in rear of the Lewis House and very near our battery. He wound had been mortal and when I saw him he was dead. We had nothing to dig a grave with our battery not being supplied with spades as batteries usually are, but we got axes, staves and such things as we could and made a grave wherein we laid him enshrouded in the old blanket on which he was lying and coffined with barrel stave which we laid over his body. It was a sad scene, this rainy, dreary day after the victory, a band of soldiers some of them personally unknown to the poor fellow, laying away his body in this ignoble grave.
Many of the brave young fellows who had entered the army with the belief that we would be victorious heroes after a six month war, ended their lives on this bloody field. This battle, called the Battle of Manassas was fought on the 21sst of July 1861. Subsequently, in 1862 another battle was fought on nearly the same ground called the 2nd Manassas Battle, in August 1862, in which the relative positions of the two armies on the field were reversed. The confederates were victorious in both and Stonewall Jackson was a prominent figure in each. I was not at 2nd Manassas.
We spent the 22 and 23 of July miserably in the mud and rain near the Lewis House and about the 24th or perhaps the 25th we removed and went into camp a few miles distant, but I cannot exactly recall where it was. My father visited me whilst at this camp, having gone down to for himself how it faced with me and with my brother, Elly whose Regt, the 1st Va Cavalry under Col Stuart had done service on the retreat of the enemy towards Washington. I walked over part of the Battlefield with Father and the scenes we witnessed did not encourage us to stay long or to make a very thorough examination. Many of the dead had been overlooked by the burial corps and the stench from the dead horses was dreadful. There was a remarkable absence of birds of prey about the field of Battle.
Clement Fisburne Memoir – Rockbridge Artillery – University of VA Acc No. 2341 (pg A-Z of Notebook 1 and pgs 1-17 of Notebook 2.) No date was given but it was likely around the time that the “Historical Sketch of the Rockbridge Artillery.” Southern Historical Society Papers, 23 (1895), was written as portions of both text match somewhat.
Contributed and transcribed by John Hennessy
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